Richmond’s efforts in expanding its electric vehicle charging infrastructure has been recognized with an Excellence in Governance award.
Last week, the Union of British Columbia Municipalities’ convention presented its 2018 Community Excellence Awards at its annual convention. Local governments were highlighted for their “promising practices” and how they encourage others to follow their lead.
“The city has long been recognized for its leadership in implementing programs that encourage energy conservation both within our organization and throughout our community,” said Mayor Malcolm Brodie in a press release.
“The Electric Vehicle infrastructure requirement reaffirms our commitment to innovation and sustainable practices and will help us meet our targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to combat climate change.”
Currently, Richmond requires all residential parking spaces in new developments to provide a level two EV charging infrastructure. It was the first jurisdiction to implement this policy.
In addition, the City of Richmond has charging stations at the Olympic Oval, Steveston Community Centre, Thompson Community Centre, Cambie Community Centre and City Hall. While the charging stations were used 776 times when they were installed in 2013, usage has grown to nearly 11,000 in 2017.
The city is now working to expand its publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure, both at city hall and at the Olympic Oval, including adding fast charging stations which could charge vehicles in well under an hour, as opposed to the two to eight hour charge times the current charging stations require.
In June, city staff also recommend implementing a “cost recovery approach to impose user fees and time limits for publicly accessible electric vehicle charging stations.” Currently, use of city-run charging stations is free.
Other municipalities were given awards by UBCM in categories of Excellence in Service Delivery, Excellence in Asset Management and Excellence in Sustainability.
